


Amas Veritas

by antonystvrk



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Minor Character Death, Practical Magic AU, Witches, it ends happy i promise (i hope), mentions of domestic abuse, past tony/rhodey - Freeform, pepper and tony are siblings and peggy is their witchy aunt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-03-01 21:29:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13303626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antonystvrk/pseuds/antonystvrk
Summary: Everything must come full circle. It was one of the first things Tony had learned.(also known as: the practical magic au that no one asked for)





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SuperstringSymphony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperstringSymphony/gifts).



> This is a late Nutmas gift for Luna!  
> I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

Sometimes, when the sun hadn’t quite made its way out of bed and the house was still silent, Tony would roll over to the right side of the bed to bury his face in the pillows. His mind would convince him that he was still home and that everything that happened had been a dream. He would breathe in deep and catch a faint whiff of Rhodey’s after shave, something fancy that Tony had picked up for him as a joke. And just as a sleepy smile would start to find its way onto his face, he would hear Peggy’s voice clear as day in his mind. _Sometimes we get glimpses of them, Tony. Tiny remnants of who they used to be. That’s all it is,_ she’d say, snapping Tony out of his sleep and into the real world.

He was thinking of _their_ room, of the room him and Rhodey had christened the first day they’d moved into their home with their moving boxes still piled all around them and nothing but the first picture they’d ever taken together taped on the wall. Instead he found himself in a room he knew just as well, a tiny room by comparison in his Aunt Peggy’s house. Worn comics posters and messy sketches clung to the walls for dear life, serving as testaments of his childhood. Relics of a younger Tony who continued to hope even when his life was in shambles. Aunt Peggy had taken Pepper and Tony in without so much as a fuss when their parents had passed away. That room had been his haven, his secret sanctum, when he needed it the most.

Now, when he’d lost someone else that meant the world to him, he was here again. It was strange how things came full circle. Then again, maybe not. Even though he hadn’t practiced since he’d moved away and gone to school, the rules of magic were ingrained in Tony’s mind. Everything must come full circle. It was one of the first things he’d learned.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice there was someone else in the room. He nearly jumped when light fingers ran over his brow and down his cheek. His sleep addled mind told him it was Rhodey, but he found Pepper looking back at him instead, lips twisted into a sad smile. Her vibrant red hair ran down past her shoulders, gleaming in the early sunlight that reached lazily through the windows. The California sun had warmed her skin. It suited her. Their mother always said Pepper was made of fire.

“Hey, there, ladybug,” she whispered, voice soft and soothing. It had been so long since Tony heard his sister’s voice. They had talked through letters for years, separated by the states in between them and the haphazard excuses that they always seemed to have. The years had come after both of them, for better and for worse. But in that house, in that room, it was as if they were still children, clinging to one another when they didn’t have much else.

“I miss him, Pep,” Tony confessed. He closed his eyes and reached for the hand that Pepper still had resting on his cheek. She hummed in agreement and crept onto the bed next to him, holding him close. Tony remembered hugging Pepper tight at night when she would cry for their parents. He remembered how adamant he was about making her feel like she had him to lean on. He couldn’t remember when that had changed.

Time passed sluggishly and quickly all at once. For the first time in days, Tony didn’t feel like someone had reached down his throat and scooped out his insides, heart and all. He cried into the pillows, snot-nosed and bleary-eyed. He was relieved when Pepper didn’t tell him that he would be okay. Instead they laughed so hard the bed seemed to shake and retold stories that they’d never had the chance to experience with one another.

Their laughter dissolved into silence as the sun began its slow descent through the sky, taking their minute happiness with it. Tony shifted onto his side and watched Pepper closely for the second time that day. He had been so desperate for her comfort and her familiarity that he hadn’t noticed something else just below the surface. Where he’d seen warmth before, he could feel her weariness coming off in waves. There were bags beneath her eyes, weighed down by something that made Tony’s blood boil. Pepper recognized the exact moment that it clicked in Tony’s mind. She released his hand and rolled onto her back, examining the posters that teenage Tony had carefully hung, looking at everything and anything besides her brother.

“How’s Hammer?” Tony asked. Pepper didn’t respond, eyes still trained on the ceiling. Tony waved a hand in her face, but he got no response. Radio silence. Tony reached for her arm, pulling away as if he’d been burned when Pepper flinched before he’d even made contact. “Same old piece of shit, I see,” Tony muttered, rolling away from Pepper and out of the bed. His body ached from being still for so long. His bones popped in relief, prodding out a soft sigh from his lips.

“I don’t need a lecture, Tony,” Pepper bit back, up in arms the way she used to be when they were kids. The sun had taken her softness with it and left a Pepper that was all hard edges and cool stares. She sat up on the bed and glared at Tony, giving him a silent warning to drop the subject. Tony could see the defiance burning in her eyes, but he had a little defiance of his own.

“No, you don’t need a lecture,” he agreed, crossing his arms and fixing her with a glare in return. “What you need is a nice dose of common sense. People you love shouldn’t toss you around like a ping pong ball. Fact.”

“Stop!” She yelled, jumping to her feet. Hot tears pooled in her eyes, dimming the ferocity of the glare that was still aimed in his direction. “I’m here because I care about you. Because I love you and I know how much you’re hurting. Don’t try to take this out on me.” Tony felt the fight leave his body and felt the shame flood in in its absence. He was on the verge of apologizing when the door creaked open and Aunt Peggy peeked inside. She clicked her tongue in disappointment, gaze flickering between both of them. Tony reverted into his ten year old self, scolded and ashamed.

She stepped into the room as commandeering as ever. Her hair was messily braided into a long white braid that sat heavily on her shoulder and ran down to her stomach. Small red pins were scattered throughout her hair, flickering in the light. The chains around her neck jingled as she moved, clacking together with each step she took. She was the picture of power if Tony had ever seen one.

“Pepper, why don’t you go down and set the table?” Aunt Peggy asked. She reached forward and grabbed Pepper’s hand, giving it a good squeeze before she sent her on her way. Pepper didn’t look at him as she pulled her shoes on and wandered away, head bowed and tears streaming down her face. He sighed and dropped down onto the bed, looking up at Aunt Peggy, waiting for the lecture that was sure to come. “Clean yourself up and come downstairs when you’re ready,” she said. Tony blinked at her in surprise, mouth dropping in an unasked question. Peggy laughed, leaning forward to plant a quick kiss on the top of Tony’s head. He closed his eyes and breathed in her smell, leaning into the soft flesh of her stomach. He wondered how weird it would be to wrap his arms around her the way he used to and never let go.

She turned away from him, towards the door. “And Tone?” She asked, turning back to look at him.

“Yeah?” He responded, eyes still shut.

“Pull your head out of your ass. No one loves you more than Pep. You know that,” she said. The door shut quietly behind her. He could hear her making her way down the steps, chains clinking all the way down. Tony breathed a small laugh.

He sat on the edge of the bed for a while longer. He needed to talk himself up before he found the strength to get ready. The clothes in his bag were permanently creased where they’d been folded for days, waiting for him. He was exhausted by the time he managed to drag some sweatpants on. He had to stifle the urge to lay back down. It took every ounce of effort in his body and mind to walk out of the the little bubble he’d built inside of his old room. The house enveloped him like an old friend, creaking its greetings with every step he took. He ran his fingers along the banister, gathering dust along the way. He thought about how long the house had sat waiting for them to make their way back home.

In another time, in another place, Rhodey would have been waiting for him with a self-satisfied smirk and a three course meal that he’d prepared himself. But not then, not there. Instead he found Aunt Peggy and Pepper waiting for him in the old breakfast nook. The smoke rose from their bowls, snaking its way through the air. The smell of Peggy’s chicken soup washed over him in a comforting wave. His stomach growled in response, filling the silence more than words could. The three of them looked at each other, suspended in a quiet second before they burst into a fit of laughter.

-

Green grass surrounded their house like an emerald sea, blades blowing in the harsh wind like waves. Lightning flashed across the sky like a warning sign, cutting through the clouds that swirled overhead. Maria swung back and forth on the swinging bench that overlooked the wide front yard, unaware or uncaring of the storm that brewed. She was singing, but her words were being swallowed by the harsh wind. It whipped through her hair and her clothes, but she didn’t move an inch. He made to move towards his mother on the porch steps when a voice whispered in his ear. It seeped in through his ears and into his mind, sticking like honey to his thoughts, filling his head with a centuries old tale of a woman spurned by her lover. He watched his mother keep swinging as the voice rattled in his head, reciting the Stark family curse over and over. Tony screwed his eyes shut, pushing the palms of his hands over his ears in an attempt to keep the voice out of his head. The voice continued, conjuring up images of lost loves, of his mother and father dancing in the living room, of Rhodey kissing him in the first summer rain of their marriage. Faces that he didn’t recognize flashed in his mind until darkness descended. Tony moved his hands slowly, afraid of what he would see. The bench continued to swing, but his mother was gone. He turned to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Rain began to fall in sheets, pounding against the ground and flattening the moving grass. He spotted someone running towards him from the edge of the yard, but he couldn’t see through the rain. The person slipped in a flash of red, falling to their knees in the grass. “Tony!” They yelled, and Tony realized with a pang in his chest that it was Pepper. Her voice grew louder, drowning out the sound of the rain until it was all that he could hear. Pepper was screaming his name over and over, crawling towards him but never getting closer. There was an orange haze around her that burned brighter than the sun. Tony couldn’t look at her directly, but he knew he needed to reach her. Screams ripped their way out of her throat and still Tony could do nothing but watch her try to come closer. He screamed her name, scrambling towards her on his hands and knees, but the ground tipped into an incline, making him slide further and further away. Then he was falling, hands stretched out in an attempt to latch onto anything. He could feel walls just out of reach, fingers curling around rocks that crumbled out of his hands.

Tony sat up in bed with a loud gasp just as he was going to hit the floor in his dream. He took in deep, gulping breaths that made his chest ache. The sheets were in a messy heap on his bedroom floor, blood red against the dark wood stain. “It was just a dream,” he told himself, reaching up with shaking hands to rub the sleep away from his eyes. His fingers trembled against his eyelids, dancing in fear. The night was quiet around him, so quiet that Tony was sure Aunt Peggy could hear the loud drumming of his heart from her room downstairs. He counted the posters and papers taped on his walls to distract himself. _One, two, three…_ His heart stopped pounding against his chest by the time he reached ten. His hands stopped shaking on fifteen. He had just reached twenty when the shrill ring of his phone sent his heart into yet another frenzy. The screen lit up, casting the room in blue light. Pepper’s name flashed across the screen and brought a new wave of panic with it. He’d buried himself in helping Aunt Peggy at the herb shop, so he hadn’t had a chance to speak with Pepper since she returned to California a few weeks ago.

Tony reached for it where it sat on his night table, breath coming out in shuddering gasps as his fingers slipped over the screen. The posters weren’t helping anymore. They swirled together in a mess of colors on the edges of his vision. He shut his eyes again, leaning back against the headboard of his bed as he raised the phone to his ear. “Hello? Pepper, is that you?” He asked shakily.

“Tony,” she breathed, voice tinny and trembling over the phone, “I don’t know what to do.” Her words seemed to stick in her throat, struggling to work their way out. He could hear that she had been crying, and it made him wary. He scooted to the edge of the bed until his toes touched the cold hardwood floor. His dream flashed through his mind as clear as day and all he could hear were Pepper’s screams.

“What’s wrong, Pep? Do you need me to call the police?” Tony asked. He was amazed that he could even talk properly because his heart was beating against his chest like a steel drum, threatening to drown out his voice.

“No! No, no, no,” Pepper pleaded. Tony shushed her, agreeing to keep her calm. “I need to leave, Tony. I need to leave now.” Her words started rushing out faster than Tony could register until she was sobbing instead of talking.

“Where’s Justin now, Pep?” Tony urged as he stepped out of bed. He slipped into the first shoes that he could find, not even bothering to change out of his pajamas. The stairs creaked like they always did as he made his way downstairs, but this time they sounded like warnings, groaning at him to stay. On the phone, Pepper stumbled her way through another explanation that Tony tried his best to understand.

Things had escalated more than usual between Pepper and her slimeball of a boyfriend, more than just a tightly grabbed wrist or a push. Hammer had _hurt_ Tony’s little sister, and she’d let him for fear of making things worse. He left the hotel they were staying at afterwards for a few hours and still Pepper stayed, afraid that he would come back while she was trying to leave. She decided to find a way out, no matter what. While Hammer was gone, Pepper poured a friend of hers into his Black Barrel, just enough to put him to sleep for a while. Hammer had come back with sickly sweet smiles and soft kisses. He whispered apologies into Pepper’s mouth and tried to feed her false promises. She simply nodded along, biding her time until he took an inevitable swig of his liquid courage and passed out cold on the lumpy hotel bed.

“I need you to grab the car keys. Can you do that for me?” Tony asked, doing his best to remain calm. The moonlight shone through the stained glass window of the front door, spreading color across the foyer. He fumbled for the keys hanging on the key hooks, cursing under his breath as his fingers crashed into the wall instead. “Drive somewhere public and stay there. You call me if anything happens,” Tony demanded. The engine came to life on Pepper’s end just as he rushed out of the house. Rain was falling lightly, nothing compared to the rain that fell in Tony’s dream. “I’m on my way, Pep. Just send me the address,” he said. His door slammed shut at the exact moment that Pepper mumbled goodbye. He tossed his phone into the driver’s seat without looking, wincing as it banged into the door and back onto the seat.

The rain grew stronger, pounding against the windshield of Tony’s car. His mind was racing a mile a minute, always coming back to how scared Pepper must be, how alone she must feel. Houses sat quiet as he drove past, their lights off and windows dark. Maybe he should have woken Aunt Peggy, he thought, but he had come too far to turn back around. Even if he tried to call her, she would probably wouldn’t answer. They’d never been able to break her habit of letting her phone completely die close to the end of the day instead of charging it. It would take him nearly a whole day to drive down to California, so he felt he had no time to spare. Deception Pass loomed ahead, stretching over the swirling waters below. Tony hated driving over the bridge. He always found himself thinking about how terrible it would be to fall, to have the water break his fall, to feel it surround him relentlessly. Morbid, to say the least. Fog had gathered over the far end of the bridge, so thick that Tony felt it would swallow him whole once he drove through it.

His phone pinged, lighting up to display an incoming message from Pepper. Slowing on the empty road, he reached over to grab it. Pepper was waiting for him at a little diner in Salem, Oregon, or so Google maps said. She was hours closer than Tony thought she had been. When she’d made her way out of California and how she’d convinced Hammer to come along was a mystery to him. It was hard to see through the fog, but he managed, straining over the wheel to get as close to the windshield as he could. The fog lessened the longer he drove, but the rain continued harder than before. When he grew bored of watching droplets race each other down the windows, he turned on the radio, flipping through stations until he settled on a late night talk show.

“Late Night with Nat & Clint” rolled across the radio display in blocky white letters. It provided Tony with background noise while he drove. The radio hosts joked around for a bit, getting a laugh or two out of Tony as he maneuvered the streets, but something they said caught his attention.

“So you’re saying you think Stevie Nicks is an actual witch?” Nat asked, making Tony smile at the disbelieving tone in her voice “Afraid she’s gonna put a spell on you?”

“No,” Clint replied indignantly. “I’m just saying witches aren’t outside of the realm of possibility. That’s all.”

“Smart guy,” Tony muttered to himself. He decided he liked Clint.

“Right, and ghosts are real, too,” Nat laughed into the microphone. Clint started ranting about the existence of ghosts, serious even as Nat continued to goad him. She cut him off after a while, shushing him. Clint hmphed, reminding Tony of Pepper when he used to steal her toys to make new toys of his own. “Here’s one from your friendly neighborhood witch,” Nat said. Their voices faded and the beginning of “Rhiannon” came through instead. Tony laughed despite himself, cranking up the volume and belting the song out word for word.


	2. The Middle: Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I know nothing about real witches or witchcraft. I’m just borrowing some movie magic and using it here, so please don’t rip me a new one.
> 
> Tumblr: antonystvrk

He stopped in Seattle to fill his gas tank, checking his phone for last minute flights while the fuel ran. The earliest flight to Oregon would leave at six in the morning. If Tony kept driving, then he would get to Salem around that time. He got back into his car with a cheap cup of coffee and the resolve to brave the rain-slick streets. He drove five miles over the speed limit the entire time, only slowing if he saw a cop driving up ahead. Music kept him from itching out of his skin. When he lost one radio station, he’d just flip to another, on and on as he passed through city after city. Trees flew past him as he drove, a dark blur on the edges of his vision. When he was younger and Aunt Peggy took them on trips to find her rarer ingredients, Tony would watch the trees from the window of car. They looked like walking giants at night with trunk limbs that reached for miles and hunched shoulders made of leaves.  
  
The distance between him and Pepper never seemed to close, stretching on and on. When the numbers on screen read that only ten miles remained, Tony began to feel the desperation crawl under his skin again. It thrummed through his veins with each turn of the wheel. “Peace is in everything, peace is in me,” Tony recited, breathing in deep after each repetition. A sense of calm washed over him, slowly at first and then all at once. He hadn’t practiced in so long that he was surprised how easy it came to him. He started to think about everything he’d learned when he was younger, about how desperate he’d been to leave it all behind for something normal. Rhodey had been his perfect escape and he’d loved him with everything he had. The blood that ran through his veins had been Rhodey’s downfall, Tony was sure of it. The dream he had only proved it further. Curses were real. For how smart he was, he’d been stupid to forget that.  
  
He spotted the restaurant easily. It was hard not to with the pink Cadillac doubling as a sign. Neon pink lights lined the car where it sat up on a post, drowning the parking lot in pink shadow. “Rock N’ Rogers,” Tony read, squinting at the bright letters written across the pink Cadillac. The sun still hadn’t risen, but people were already beginning to make their way into the streets to start their days. Tony could see that it was just as empty inside the diner as it was outside in the parking lot. The car shuddered to a stop as if it were tired. _More like exhausted_ , Tony joked to himself. He slid out of his car, groaning as he stretched for the first time in hours. He shut the car door lightly, but it sounded more like a slam in the quiet of the parking lot. Bells jingled above his head as he opened the door. People turned to look at him curiously, but turned back to their food when they found nothing interesting. He had to admit he wasn’t much to see in his pajamas and the MIT hoodie he’d found in the trunk of his car.  
  
“Welcome to Rock N’ Rogers,” the waitress called from behind the cash register, not even glancing up at Tony. By the look of her disheveled hair and the droop in her shoulders, Tony guessed she had probably been there all night. “Be with you in a second.” Tony nodded, more to himself than to her. The diner was smaller than he’d anticipated. Red booths lined the side, large enough to fit four people at a time but really only meant for two. Another pink Cadillac, this one painted, stretched across one wall. Its pink neon lights were almost enough to pull Tony’s attention from the checkerboard tile that ran across the entire restaurant. Fifties’ icons stared down at him from the walls. Their eyes seemed to follow Tony as he walked.  
  
Pepper was waiting for him at a booth in the corner, elbows resting against the cool tabletop. Her fingers were curled in the tiger’s eye necklace that hung from her neck, twisting in and out of the string. The sun had been drained from her skin, leaving her pale. Her eyeliner was smudged around her eyes in rings of black, and Tony could see the beginnings of a bruise forming near her cheek. She looked washed out against all the bright pinks and reds of the diner, fading into the background. The only bright thing about her was her hair, still falling in a vibrant red line down her back. Tony’s steps quickened until he was standing right in front of the table. He grasped her hands in his and pulled her up to stand, eyes running over her in a hurry, trying to catch anything else that he might have missed. His hands wandered up to her shoulders and then to either side of her head. Tears of relief began to pool in his eyes, clinging to his lashes in a desperate attempt not to fall. He pulled her in close and she fell into his hug easily, arms snaking their way around his waist to squeeze him tightly.  
  
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Tony breathed, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. They stood like that for who knows how long until Pepper pulled away with a sad smile. “I’m alright now that you’re here, ladybug,” Pepper singsonged, moving to sit back down and dragging Tony with her. They sat across from each other in the booth, but didn’t speak. An abundance of words flooded through Tony’s mind, things he’d thought he would say to Pepper once he saw her, threats to her no good boyfriend, apologies for not calling, but he settled for just knowing that she was safe.  
  
The waitress popped their bubble of silence with a smack of her gum and the thwack of two menus landing on the table. “Can I get you anything?” She asked. Pepper looked at him in question and Tony shrugged, pulling the menu close. He could go for a burger the size of his head after that long drive. Everything on the menu called his name, but he resisted as best he could. “Coming right up,” she said when they’d finished ordering, walking away as quick as she came. Pepper crossed her arms against the tabletop and rested her head there. Tony watched her, wondering if this was the first time she’d felt at ease since the moment she’d left home. As they waited, he drifted off himself, half-asleep, half-awake, with his head leaning back against the red vinyl booth. The sound of the plates touching the table was what woke him up. He came to with a sigh, poking Pepper’s elbow to stir her from her sad excuse of a nap. Pepper grumbled at him but woke up nonetheless, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up. Tony didn’t think the sight of slightly overcooked fries could ever make his mouth water, but there he was. Pepper must have been more hungry than she’d let on. Half of her fries were gone so fast that Tony had the urge to check if she’d hidden them up her sleeves.  
  
“Do you remember when we first saw Peggy work a love spell?” She asked after a while, dipping a fry in the pool of ketchup that she’d poured onto her plate. Tony watched the fry swirl through the ketchup, eyes tracking the red smear it left behind on the plate. “I was so desperate to fall in love. I wanted to feel that strongly about something, about _someone_. And you?” Pepper breathed a small laugh, shaking her head. She looked up from the plate to meet Tony’s gaze, but her gaze was vacant, eyes focused on the past. “You cast to keep yourself from falling in love. Remember that?”  
  
Tony nodded, absently picking at his teeth with the tip of his tongue. “Amas Veritas,” he said, leaning back into the booth with a sigh. “Technically, I wished I _would_ fall in love.”  
  
“Yeah, with someone that doesn’t exist,” Pepper said, reaching across the table to pull on the tips of his hair in jest. Tony shook her off, shooting her a dirty look. He couldn’t forget that day even if he tried.  
  
_Tony and Pepper had been doing homework in the breakfast nook when someone had knocked on the door. They looked at each other, but neither moved to see who was on the other side. Aunt Peggy had strict rules about not letting anyone into the house unless she knew about it. They went back to their homework when they heard the jingle of Peggy’s necklaces as she worked her way to the foyer. “Are you the witch?” Someone asked desperately, voice shaking. Tony raised an eyebrow in amusement, but stayed focused on his homework. He didn’t catch Aunt Peggy’s muttered response. He motioned for Pepper to follow him up the stairs when he heard the door shut followed shortly by the sound of footsteps. They tiptoed their way to the other room, leaving their school work behind on the table. They stayed near the doorway, peeking around the edge to watch Aunt Peggy work. She led the woman to the kitchen island, telling her to sit as she gathered ingredients from the cupboards. Tony recognized the woman from the bakery in town. She looked uneasy and out of place in their kitchen, too prim, too proper. Her blonde hair was cut into a short bob, not a hair out of place. She crossed her perfectly manicured fingers on the kitchen island, watching Aunt Peggy work her way around the kitchen. Her rapid breathing betrayed her. Tony could see that she was afraid. They always were, but that had never stopped them from coming to Aunt Peggy for help._  
  
_Aunt Peggy’s pile of ingredients disappeared into her mortar as she worked, one by one until there was nothing left on the table. The woman watched her closely, still as a statue. Tony was sure that there were a thousand questions running through her head, but she said nothing. The room stayed quiet, interrupted only by the sound of Peggy’s pestle crushing and the woman’s deep breaths. Peggy started her incantation, but her voice was too low for them to understand what she was saying._  
  
_All of a sudden her hands stopped moving and she looked, truly looked, at the woman across from her for the first time. The woman subtly hunched in on herself, looking ashamed, almost as if she’d just realized what exactly she was doing. Peggy held out her right hand, rings gleaming in the low kitchen light. The woman didn’t move for a second, two, five. “Did you bring it?” Peggy finally asked. The woman nodded hurriedly, uncrossing her hands for the first time since she’d sat down to rifle through the dainty, little purse that sat on her lap. She pulled out a pouch the size of a post-it note, plain in every way. Aunt Peggy motioned for her to hand it over, giving the woman a small nod of encouragement when she made no move. The woman reached across the kitchen island to drop the pouch in the palm of Peggy’s hand. Her fingers were almost robotic as they released their grip on the pouch one by one until only her thumb and forefinger clung to it desperately._

_She recoiled as if burned when Peggy turned it upside down and let the insides fall into her mortar. They were too far to see, but Tony and Pepper both knew that was hair drifting down into the bowl. A small offering for a small spell, Aunt Peggy always told them, but Tony knew better. They watched, along with the woman even though she never knew it, with bated breath as Aunt Peggy finished up. Tony felt when she did, a feeling that started in his toes and spread through his body, as if he’d touched a live wire that energized him. He knew that Pepper had felt it, too. She leaned forward, mesmerized, as Tony leaned back. “Whoa,” she whispered, turning to Tony with a secret smile, “I can’t wait to fall in love.” Tony didn’t respond, and after a while, Pepper turned back to continue watching._  
  
_When he went to bed that night, he dreamt of the woman’s eyes. They’d been filled with desperation, something that edged on manic. That couldn’t be love, and if it was, he wanted no part of it. He crept through the old house, counting the creaks as he went. He made a small detour to grab Aunt Peggy’s spell book from the kitchen cabinet before working his way back towards the door. The brisk night air enveloped him as soon as he opened the back door, rippling through his hair like a soft touch. The grass stuck to the bottoms of his feet as he made his way to the greenhouse, tickling his heels with each step. The plants inside moved with the wind, waving at him. He set the book down gently on the rickety table that sat in the center of the room and ran his fingers across the worn cover. The letters were probably embossed with gold at one point, but now they winked at him weakly._  
  
_He flipped through the pages with care, smoothing each one out as he turned it until he reached what he was looking for. Amas Veritas, it read. A spell of true love. He read it over carefully and set to work. He plucked flowers with the utmost care, coming up with one impossible characteristic for each petal that he pulled. On and on he went, building a picture in his mind of the perfect man. “He will hear my call a mile away. He’ll ride a red motorcycle and he’ll whistle my favorite song,” Tony said, smiling despite himself._  
  
_Tony didn’t hear Pepper approach, too wrapped up in his spell. “What are you doing, ladybug?” Pepper asked, watching Tony from the doorway. Tony startled, almost dropping the petal that he held in his hand. Her eyes were still puffy from sleep, hair mussed around her head in a halo of red. Tony considered sending her back to bed, but he told Pepper everything. It’s the way they were. And god knows Pepper wouldn’t have listened to him anyway. She seldom did anything she didn’t want to do. He was too busy rambling in his head to notice that Pepper had creeped up to the table for a better look._  
  
_“A spell of true love,” she read, startling Tony out of his thoughts for the second time that night. She wandered over to where he was with her hands crossed over her chest, lips pursed in deep thought. “I thought you didn’t want to fall in love. You said if you fell in love, he’d croak.” Tony winced. That’s exactly what he’d said and he wholeheartedly believed it, too._  
  
_“I’m dreaming up a guy that doesn’t exist, Pep. If he doesn’t exist, I can never fall in love with him and he can never die,” Tony explained, running his fingers through the petals he’d already gathered. Anything that would keep him from meeting Pepper’s wondering eyes. She sidled up to him not unlike a cat, a grouchy cat that was hard to love but loved you hard. She reached for a petal and plucked it delicately, holding it out for Tony to place with the others. “He can flip pancakes in the air without even trying,” she whispered, giving him an encouraging smile. Tony breathed a small laugh, taking the petal and adding it to the pile._  
  
_“He’ll be the kindest person we ever know.”_

_“And his favorite shape will be a star.”_

_“He’ll have one green eye,” Tony said, pulling one last petal. “And one blue,” Pepper added, pulling off a petal from the same flower. They completed the spell together and Tony felt that feeling he’d felt when Aunt Peggy casted creeping up his spine again, the feeling of being alive, the feeling of connecting with something that was much bigger than him. They both watched in awe as the petals floated towards the door and out into the night. They glanced at each and raced towards the door excitedly, shoving as they went. The petals drifted towards the sky, circling under the light of the full moon. Tony watched the petals grow smaller and smaller the farther they went until they were nothing but white specks against the night sky. He lost sight of them altogether after a while and dragged Pepper back inside with him. He crept up to his room after he put Peggy’s spell book back where he’d found it. He drifted off to sleep easily, content with the thought that he wouldn’t have to suffer through what his parents suffered and that he had somehow avoided the family curse._  
  
“Tony,” Pepper whispered harshly, shaking him by the shoulder. They were still in the diner, plates half empty on the table. Elvis was crooning about lost love from the jukebox. _You were always on my mind._ Tony had to give the little diner props for keeping in theme. He had fallen asleep again, lulled to sleep by the past. He mumbled something about being awake, but Pepper shushed him, scooting to the far side of the booth. She looked down at the table, letting her hair fall in front of her face and motioned for him to duck down. The fear on her face was enough to wake him up completely.  
  
“What’s wrong?” He asked in a low voice, shifting to the far side of the booth with Pepper. He tried to peek around the booth, but that would have been too obvious.  
  
“He’s here. Oh god, oh god,” Pepper rambled. Her fingers tangled in her necklace again, wringing it nervously. It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water over Tony. A million thoughts ran through his head, but the diner was too small and Hammer reached them before Tony could think of what to do. He whistled along to the song that was playing, leaning up against the table with his hands.  
  
“I just love this song,” he said, giving them both a big smile. “Don’t you?”


End file.
